A new study finds that hyperactive puppies perform better in tests identifying
animals which would make good working dogs

For owners of puppies that make a habit of chewing slippers and generally causing havoc in the home, the news might come as something of a relief: hyperactive young dogs are likely to turn out better behaved than their calmer counterparts.

A new study shows that dogs that are particularly restless in their formative months are found to respond better to training in later life.

Researchers also found that the longer a puppy was left at home alone, the higher the chance that it could go on to be successfully trained as a working dog.

The authors of the study believe the findings could help to single out pets early in their lifetime that could be well suited to life as working dogs, including in the military.

The findings came as a surprise to experts who have traditionally associated hyperactivity with “behavioural problems”. The trait would usually help to rule out an animal from being identified as a good guide dog.

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The study, published in the journal of Applied Animal Behaviour Science, was carried out on 71 German Shepherds identified as prospective working dogs for the Swedish military. The animals were bred at a single location and then kept in the homes of “host families” for the first year of their lives.

The behaviour and character traits of each dog were assessed in its first 12 months, with the results compared to the findings of a formal “temperament” test conducted later and used to determine the suitability of dogs for military work.

The test measured the dogs’ willingness to cooperate and interact with humans, as well their reactions to a series of events that could scare them, such as suddenly-appearing dummies and loud noises.

As the researchers expected, puppies which were found by their host families to be particularly fearful of strangers, dogs, or other objects, were less likely to perform well in the later suitability test.

However two “counter-intuitive” findings also emerged, which the researchers described as “surprising” and said called for further analysis.

The first was that those described by their foster families as being hyperactive, restless, tending to follow shadows or light spots or having difficulties “settling down”, were found to perform better in the “temperament” test, which was carried out when they were between 15 and 18 months old.

“These traits are typically associated with behavioural problems and a lesser chance to succeed as a guide dog,” the authors wrote.

Prof Per Jensen, professor of ethology at Linköping University, one of the authors of the report, described the finding as “really surprising”.

“Either the military is unconsciously selecting dogs with a very specific psychological profile or there is something wrong with their test,” he said.

The second unexpected finding was that those dogs which were left at home alone for longer periods each day - on average around three hours as opposed to two - were also likely to have a better chance of behind successful at training.

“Again, this is a somewhat counter-intuitive result, since time left alone at home is generally related to higher incidences of a variety of behavioural problems in dogs,” the authors wrote.

They suggested that the trend of dogs which had been left alone for longer periods performing better in the tests could be down more “stress-resistant” dogs being left at home because their owners already know they can “handle” it.

The study was carried out by researchers from the Swedish National Defence College, Linköping university and the Swedish Armed Forces Dog Instruction Centre.